Australian bull ray
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| iAustralian bull ray | ||||||||||||||||
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| Myliobatis australis Macleay, 1881 |
- For other species known as bull rays, see bull ray (disambiguation).
The Australian bull ray (Myliobatis australis) or southern eagle ray is a large eagle ray of temperate waters of Australia. It is possible that it is the same species as the New Zealand eagle ray (Myliobatis tenuicaudatus).[1]
It is found in the southern waters of Australia from Jurien Bay, Western Australia, around the southern coast and Tasmania and up the east coast as far as Moreton Bay, south Queensland. It is uncommon at its northern limits (Moreton Bay and northern New South Wales).[1]
At maturity the body (not including tail) reaches about 80 cm in width and 45 cm in length for females and 65 cm width and 40 cm length for males. The maximum width known is about 160 cm[1] and total length (including tail) 240 cm.[2] They weigh up to at least 87 kg. [3] It has a blunt snout with eyes on the sides of the head. Its long whip-like tail carries a venomous spine.[2]
It is commonly found off beaches and in shallow water over sand flats. Individuals often enter very shallow water around dusk. It is also found as deep as 85 m.[1][4]
It eats mainly crustaceans (hermit crabs, swimmer crabs and shrimp), molluscs, echiurid worms and polychaetes.[1]
Steve Irwin was killed in a freak accident on September 4th, 2006 which was reported by some news agencies to be an encounter with an Australian bull ray. It was estimated to weigh about 220 pounds (100 kg). Irwin was snorkeling in about 6 feet (2 meters) of water when the incident happened. Due to weather conflicts, he was taking time off filming a new documentary titled "Ocean's Deadliest" off the coast of Australia, to film some shallow water shots for a segment in the television program his daughter Bindi was hosting.
[edit] References
- ^ a b c d e White, W.T., Jones, A. & Phillips, D.M. (2005). Myliobatis australis. 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN 2006. Retrieved on 9 September 2006.
- ^ a b Southern Eagle Ray, Australian Museum Online. Retrieved on 9 September 2006
- ^ Phillips, David T., Terence I. Walker and Ashley Bunce. "The biology and ecology of the southern eagle ray Myliobatis australis from south-eastern Australia". abstract
- ^ "Myliobatis australis". FishBase. Ed. Ranier Froese and Daniel Pauly. June 2006 version. N.p.: FishBase, 2006.
